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Finding Your People: Crew Girl Review

 

Crew Girl

I have a confession: Crew Girl probably isn't for me.

From the very beginning, it has that unmistakable Gen Z teen-show vibe. A girl is forced to move to a small town, hates it, and then, naturally, meets a boy. Add some romance, complicated parents, friendships, and a few emotional secrets, and you have a formula we've seen many times before. 

It reminded me of The Summer I Turned Pretty in a way I can't quite explain. Maybe it is Teagan (Miku Martineau) herself, who has something of Belly's closed-off, slightly awkward personality.

At first, I found it a little boring. I'm not Gen Z, and I suspect some of the things that make this show immediately appealing to its target audience simply don't work on me in the same way. And Teagan isn't exactly the greatest actress either.

But eventually, something about Crew Girl gradually won me over. It is warm, funny, and sweet, even when it is also decidedly silly.

More Than Just a Teen Romance

The story gets more interesting when Josh's (Samuel Braun) heart condition comes into play.

His family wants him to be a rower. Not just a rower, but the rower they expect him to become. His heart condition makes that expectation considerably more complicated, particularly when continuing to push himself can affect everyone around him.

I have to admit, the sabotage storyline made me genuinely angry.

At times, Josh's choices seem incredibly selfish because they can put other people at risk. But the more I thought about it, the more obvious it is where that behavior came from. We shouldn't feel anger, but pity.

And, as is so often the case in stories about teenagers, the parents aren't necessarily the adults behaving most like adults.

The Importance of a Team

This is where I think Crew Girl is actually at its best.

For all the romance and teenage drama, the series is really about building a team. And I liked that.

A real team isn't made up of people who never argue. They get angry with each other. They disagree. They make mistakes. Sometimes they even want to walk away. But when it matters, they have each other's backs.

That is probably the strongest lesson in the show.

Parents Aren't Always Right

I particularly enjoyed Cam's (Kyle Clark) relationship with his dad. There is a sweetness to it that feels different from some of the more controlling parent-child relationships in the story.

I also enjoyed the ending, particularly seeing Josh's father finally behave like a dad rather than someone trying to turn his son into the person he wants him to be.

It felt like a small but important shift: maybe supporting your child means accepting who they are, rather than constantly trying to make them into something else.

So, Did I Like It?

Yes. Surprisingly, I did.

Would I say Crew Girl is my kind of show? Not really.

It has the very specific teenage tone that I suspect will appeal much more strongly to its intended Gen Z audience than to me. Some of the characters and situations are a little silly, and I never completely connected with Teagan.

But it is also warm, funny, and genuinely sweet. More importantly, underneath all the teen drama, it has something worthwhile to say about family, honesty, and what it really means to be part of a team.

They clearly left the door open for a second season, and I might actually watch it.

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